System Overload

Technology is such a huge part of our culture today. We use it everyday, and most of us have more than one form of technology that we use regularly. There are very few of us that don’t own or use modern day technology, and they must struggle. It has probably got to a point in time where we would find it really difficult to keep up our modern day lifestyles without the large range of technology we are so used to. But then again is that entirely true? Latest technologies like Apple products and Kindle provide us with more up to date versions of technologies we had before, the most recent being talk of a an iPhone 5 being introduced. But do we really need all this technology? How hard would our lives actually be without them?

In the early days, we were amazed by all the technology that today we would probably consider old school, and not worth using anymore. Remember the first time you used a computer. Or when you first took a picture on your brand new camera phone. Or playing your first game on a PlayStation 1 and thinking it had the most amazing graphics you had ever seen. Since then, we’ve been so flooded with new and updated technology that nothing seems amazing anymore. We’re past the point of anticipation and excitement when something new is released. There doesn’t seem in recent years, to be many breakthrough technologies that provide us with a brand new experience we have never had before, and when this type of technology does come about, ‘the next big thing’ doesn’t seem so big anymore. Take the iPhone for instance, many of us look forward to the next version of the device coming out, but not in the way that we did when we first saw smartphones and the ability to use phones as a touchscreen device with a ton of different features. Even the Nintendo 3DS only seemed cool for a short amount of time before it became pretty much irrelevant and forgotten about. It’s even gotten to the point where we are less amazed by new technologies, and more annoyed with them. The Kindle seems to have people divided. Some see it as a more convenient way to access their favourite books at home or on the go, while others who enjoy literature in the form of books see it as a technology that is unnecessarily making the written word obsolete.

So do we really need all of these forms of technology? Yes mobile phones are a device that we couldn’t do without, but we may not need the extra features that come with them. Technologies such as computers and laptops are needed by many of us, for work purposes and for use of the internet, but devices such as iPads and the various different brands of mobile phones and other technologies seem to be things that we don’t particularly need. The overflowing access to all these different types of new technology can be said to have changed us as a society. We seem to have become so comfortable with technology that we now judge a product not on what it could do, but how it can make our lives easier. We judge a product on how fast it will work. This has lead to a point where we’ve nearly lost all appreciation for technology and what we’ve achieved through its development.

Despite how much easier and entertaining our lives have been made through technology, it has slotted itself into our lives, and not always for the better. You really do realise its impact the moment you see your Grandad (the person who always reminds you how much better things were back in the day) sitting at a laptop adding people on Facebook. Yep, technology is, whether unnecessary or not, too big a part our lives to throw away completely. However, it’s also true that we really don’t need all the technology and new devices that are put in front of us. The less technology that is about, the more appreciative we’d probably be of them.

I'm a 22 year old living in Hull, soon to be living in Leeds. I recently found out I have officially passed my university degree, so now I have a summer of fun to look forward to. At the moment everything in life is falling nicely into place.